VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Chile State-owned miner Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (Codelco) has narrowed its third-quarter profit to $79-million for the three months ended September 30, as a 17% drop in copper prices and higher costs weighed on the bottom line.
This compared with a profit of $342-million in the comparable period a year earlier.
For the nine months to September, Codelco reported a net loss of $18-million, compared with a profit of $1.22-billion in the same nine-month period of 2015.
Despite falling grades, the company reported record output to 1.27-million tonnes of copper in the nine-month period, compared with 1.25-million tonnes a year earlier. Including its participation stakes in the El Abra mine and the Anglo American Sur complex, Codelco produced 1.37-million tonnes of copper, which was slightly less than 1.38-million tonnes produced in the same period of 2015.
Codelco posted improved production figures despite a 6.2% fall in average grades, which the company countered by increasing throughput rates.
The company achieved a direct cost reduction of 8% for the nine-month period, lowering C1 costs to $1.27/lb. This was the lowest figure in five years, CEO Nelson Parro stated.
He pointed out that third-quarter results had missed out on the recent copper price rally, adding that there was uncertainty as to how long the rally would last. According to Codelco, the average price of copper in the third quarter fell 17% year-on-year.
Codelco contributed $733-million to the State in the year-to-date period, comprising $707-million in profit under the State copper law and contributing $26-million in State royalties.